One Hectic Weekend!!

I will start off tonight by apologising to anyone reading for missing the last couple of days. I was really busy while I was away and could not find any time to update here and there was no computer available for me to use at the hotel so I will update you all now on what I got up to over the last few days.

Thursday was a busy day work wise once I got there. I was on the 8.55am train from Chester so I arrived at the office in Bromley shortly after midday. It was a fairly productive day and I managed to get quite a few of the things done that I wanted to with the help of a guy I work with called Gary.

After work I walked back to the Bromley Court Hotel as the weather was reasonably fine. Once I had sorted all of my stuff out I went to use the gym facilities in the hotel for an hour or so. I managed to get through a pretty good workout and then spent half an hour doing cardiovascular work. I had a go of the bike for about 10 minutes and then jumped on the treadmill to do my usual 3 and a half-mile jog.

I don’t know what it is about treadmills but I find them really easy to run for a long time at a decent pace. Maybe it’s the fact that I am always running on a flat surface with no uphill or downhill sections. I think another reason may be because there is no chance of me putting my foot in a pot hole or anything so I am more confident running at a higher pace without the worry of twisting my ankle.

I managed to do the jog in 16 minutes 45 seconds, which works out as an average of 4 minutes 47 seconds a mile. I was really happy with that as I started off at an easy pace and did the first mile in about 5 and a half minutes and gradually sped up as time went on. I ran the last mile in under 4 minutes and had the treadmill set to the highest speed setting. It was pretty much a sprint for the whole of the last mile and this shows how far my fitness has come over the past year.

I had my trusty protein shake straight after my workout and then jumped straight in the shower – I hate being sweaty! As I was away I got the opportunity to get a 3 course meal inside me courtesy of my employers but was selective in what I chose. I had spiced cauliflower soup to start (it was actually quite nice!) followed by steak, roasters and broccoli and finished with strawberries and cream! I have always been a fairly big eater but I was stuffed after all that – I think the shakes do a pretty good job of filling you on their own.

I watched a bit of football – England U21s against Spain U21s and then put the WWE on in my room. I know, I’m a little old for all that but I enjoy it – if you take it for what it is (which is basically a pumped up, action packed soap opera) then it is actually fairly enjoyable. I fell asleep just after 1am, which was a little later than I would have liked it to have been as I had to be up at 7am to make sure I got to work on time!

One thing I always enjoyed about working away was breakfast time. I rarely, if ever, have breakfast at home but always make a point of having some at the hotel as you can get it brought to your room. I had a glass of pure orange juice, a couple of croissants, a couple of Danish pastries and a bowl of cereal – that’s a pretty good start to the day in my book!

I got to work bang on time on Friday and had another pretty productive day. We managed to get pretty much everything sorted out that we needed to – there are a couple of things that Gary and I need to discuss a little further but, in general, things are moving in the right direction. I managed to slip off 10 minutes or so early as there was little for me to do and I headed straight to the pub to meet Dave – another of the guys I work with.

We started off in the Tom Foolery in Bromley and met up with a couple of other lads from work – Glynn and Mark. We had one drink there and then moved onto the Swan and Mitre for another one. Once we had finished that Dave and I headed to Dave’s flat so that we could drop off my stuff and get a shower and get ready to go out. I decided I wanted a new top to go out in last night so had been into Bromley to buy myself a nice new Armani t-shirt.

We headed back to the Swan and Mitre after that and met up with a few more people from work. Dave’s missus, Anna, joined us after a little while too and I met Dave’s brother. We had 3 or 4 more pints in there and had a few games of pool too.  A few of the lads decided to start having some arm wrestles so the honour of us northerners rested squarely on my shoulders!

I acquitted myself pretty well and had 5 arm wrestles in total. I won 2 of them, in 2 of them it was a draw after our arms not moving even an inch and lost 1 against Glynn – to be fair though he has arms the size of my legs so I was always going to struggle with that one. I felt I did ok to be honest and, although I was never going to beat him, I reckon I didn’t make it too easy for him!

Some random guy came and sat with us and had his guitar with him – we asked him to play us a tune but the music outside the pub was too loud so we couldn’t hear him! He looked a little like Eddy Grant and I was considering asking him to play Electric Avenue for us but managed to resist!

We left the Swan and Mitre and headed to the bus stop to go to Crystal Palace and then the Eddy Grant lookalike, who was actually called Danny, got on the same bus so we did get to hear him in the end. He was a little nuts to be honest and was singing a song about a homosexual elephant or something like that! He was a nice bloke though and we had a good laugh with him.

The bus then decided to break down but, luckily, it was right outside a pub so we popped in for a drink while we waited for another bus. We had to down our drinks though as the next bus came along pretty quickly! When we got to Crystal Palace we popped into a bar for a drink and I managed to blag a tequila off Mark! I have acquired a taste for Tequila over the past few months and necked it without even a blink of the eye!

We popped over the road to another bar after that and had a couple more pints before I managed to persuade Mark, Glynn and his girlfriend to head into London. Dave had to be up early this morning to go into work so he headed home at about midnight. We went round a few bars in London around Leicester Square and then decided to head to Vauxhall to find a late night club.

We stayed in a club until just after 6am and then went to get the bus back to Bromley. I’ve got to be honest, I was pretty hammered and also pretty tired! We got off the bus at Brixton and then jumped on the train to Bromley – Mark got off at Beckenham and I, somehow, managed to fall asleep despite Bromley only being about 2 stops down the line!

I woke up back at Brixton heading back in towards London so jumped off and got back on a train heading to Bromley! I eventually got back to Dave’s flat at about 8.30am this morning and then slept until just after midday. I managed to get a cup of coffee down me before I had to head off to get the train back to Chester. I thought I would have felt really bad but I felt alright really, just a little tired!

I got myself a chicken legend from McDonald’s in Victoria station and then headed off on my way back to Chester. I dozed on and off on the train from Euston back to Chester but, this time, the train terminated at Chester so there was no risk of me missing my stop! I got back into Chester at about 5pm.

I couldn’t be bothered going for a jog or doing a workout tonight and couldn’t even be bothered to cook anything to eat so I went down to Pizza Hut with my brother’s girlfriend as she gets 50% discount as she works at Royal Mail. I got a large stuffed crust meat feast and potato wedges for just under £8 – bargain!

I headed back home after that and have just been chilling out since – I am watching The Business as I am typing this up – I love that film, and the soundtrack! I really like Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan and it is one my favourite films.

I will be heading off to bed shortly as I have to be up quite early. I am taking Roman to dog training in the morning but want to walk 8 miles beforehand so that he is chilled out – he always behaves better when he is a little tired!